Learning & Ethology

Question 0

John Watson

Answer 0

Behaviorism. Experiment w fear conditioning in Little Albert.

Question 1

Edward Thorndike

Answer 1

Functionalist. Study on animals led to law of effect (the basis for operant conditioning)

Question 2

Clark Halls theory of motivation or drive reduction theory

Answer 2

The goal of behavior is to reduce biological drives- reinforcement occurs when a biological drive is reduced

Question 3

Konrad Lorenz

Answer 3

First ethnologist. Study animals in their natural environment, rather than in the laboratory

Question 4

Second- order conditioning

Answer 4

A neutral stimulus is paired w CS rather than an UCS to elicit a conditioned response

Question 5

Sensory preconditioning

Answer 5

Two neutral stimuli are paired together, and then one of the neutral stimuli is paired w an UCS. The other stimulus w also elicit the response

Question 6

Contiguity

Answer 6

CS and UCS are contiguous (near) in time

Question 7

Contingency

Answer 7

CS is a good signal for UCS

Question 8

Blocking

Answer 8

CS is a good signal for UCS AND provides non-redundant info about the occurrence of the UCS. Rats-hiss experiment

Question 9

Negative reinforcement

Answer 9

Increases prob of behavior. Includes escape and avoidance. Different than punishment which decreases prob of behavior

Question 10

Discriminative stimulus

Answer 10

A necessary stimulus to receive reward following desired behavior. I.e pigeon only gets food if pecks a key when the light is on

Question 11

Generalization

Answer 11

When org learns to generalize to similar stimuli (pigeon will peck not only to green light, but also yellow light)

Question 12

Schedules of reinforcement

Answer 12

Fixed ratio- paid every 1000 envelopes
Variable ratio- slot machine
Fixed interval- paid weekly
Variable interval- parent responding to crying child
*VR is the hardest to extinguish & produces the most rapid response rate

Question 13

Shaping (differential reinforcement)

Answer 13

To train behaviors that aren’t likely to occur naturally on their own (dog fetching slippers) so u reinforce successive approximations to the desired behavior

Question 14

Behavior therapies based on classical conditioning

Answer 14

Often used to treat phobias or undesired behaviors (I.e alcoholism)

Question 15

Flooding

Answer 15

Forcing the client to directly experience the feared object (the CS)

Question 16

Implosion

Answer 16

Forcing the client to imagine the feared object (CS)

Question 17

Systematic desensitization

Answer 17

Forcing the client to imagine the feared object (CS) while trying to ensure that the client stays relaxed by using deep relaxation and an anxiety hierarchy

Question 18

Conditioned aversion

Answer 18

Pairing a desired CS with an aversive UCS

Question 19

Therapies based on operant conditioning

Answer 19

Attempt to alter the consequences of the client’s behavior. Change behavior by changing the reinforcement contingency

Question 20

Contingency management

Answer 20

A general name for therapies that attempt to change the client’s behavior by altering the consequences of the behavior

Question 21

Behavioral contract

Answer 21

A written agreement that explicitly states the consequences of certain acts; useful in resolving interpersonal conflicts

Question 22

Time-out

Answer 22

Removing the client from the potentially reinforcing situation before he can receive reinforcement for the undesired behavior

Question 23

Premack principle

Answer 23

Using a more preferred activity to reinforce a less preferred activity

Question 24

Problem solving. Thorndike (behaviorist)

Answer 24

Problem solving due to trial-and-error learning. Cats in puzzle box

Question 25

Kohler. Gestalt

Answer 25

Problem solving is insightful

Question 26

Cognitive maps (Tolman)

Answer 26

Animals have mental maps of physical spaces

Question 27

Observational learning (Bandura). Vicarious reinforcement

Answer 27

Observing others behavior can affect your own behavior

Question 28

Preparedness (Garcia). Biological constraints

Answer 28

Animals are prepared to learn connections btw certain stimuli. Sweet water/ bright loud noise water paired w either electrical shock or nausea. Rats were only conditioned for sweet water/ nausea & bright loud water & shock

Question 29

Instinctual drift (the Brelands)

Answer 29

Instinctual ways of behaving are able to override behaviors learned through operant conditioning

Question 30

Niko Tinbergen

Answer 30

Ethologist who introduced experimental methods into the field, enabling the construction if controlled conditions outside of a laboratory

Question 31

Fixed action pattern (FAP)

Answer 31

A stereotyped behavior sequence that does not have to be learned by the animal. More complex than an UR (I.e rolling an egg back to a nest vs. an eye blink)

Question 32

Sign stimuli

Answer 32

Features of a stimulus sufficient to bring about a particular FAP.
Releaser- a sign stimulus that triggers social behaviors btw animals (I.e red bellys and aggression during mating season in male sticklebacks)
Supernormal stimulus- a model more effective at triggering a FAP than the actual sign stimulus found in nature

Question 33

Innate releasing mechanism

Answer 33

A mechanism in the animals nervous system that connects sign stimuli with the correct FAPs

Question 34

Reproductive isolating mechanism

Answer 34

Behaviors that prevent animals of one species from attempting to mate w animals of a closely related species. Provide a way of identifying others if it’s own species. Found only in locations where closely related species share the same environment

Question 35

Reproductive fitness

Answer 35

Takes into account the number of offspring that live to be old enough to reproduce. Altruism is problematic

Question 36

Inclusive fitness

Answer 36

Takes into account the number of offspring that live to be old enough to reproduce and the number of other relatives who live to reproductive age. Altruism is not problematic

Question 37

E.O Wilson

Answer 37

Associated w sociobiology

Question 38

Zipf’s law

Answer 38

Inverse relationship btw length of a word & how often it’s used